A Heart to Call Home
by reiko.souma
Summary: A bond that forms between a Shinigami and a Quincy, so forbidden by the cold eyes of a few who understand the truth...a Shinigami who infiltrates the last Quincy's life and changes it completely. Uryu-Reiko.


Chapter One: Forbidden First

Disclaimer: This story and all of its chapters have no reflection on the Bleach series in anyway. Also, this story is based on an ongoing roleplay that I'm doing with my friend ReadReedRed. The only characters that I own are Reiko Souma and a few others that will be appearing soon. Thanks for reading!

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><p>A typical night in Karakura Town usually meant people turning in for the night, or others staying up later than usual to take care of some last-minute details. A pink-haired woman by the name of Reiko Souma, however, wasn't doing either one. She didn't exactly believe in getting too much sleep if she could help it, much less stay at home. It seemed like a waste of time in Reiko's eyes, hence her constant need to be on the go. This evening, she decided to leave her gigai behind on her bed and go out to hunt for hollows. Who knew what she might end up finding in the meanwhile?<p>

Zanpakuto in hand, the average-height woman quickly flash-stepped through Karakura Town, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. She paid no attention to whoever might have been watching at this very moment.

A flash of blue light shot through the air, destroying a nearby hollow completely from a great distance. The man who shot this arrow stood in the shadows of a building across town, slowly lowering his bow and pushing up his glasses habitually. There was a new reiatsu in the air, and it belonged to a shinigami. His bow vanished from his hand and he turned away, hiding his reiatsu and slipping back into the shadows before he could be noticed by anyone at all.

The blue light could be seen in the distance, but where it came from, Reiko didn't exactly know. All she knew was that it disappeared almost as quickly as it had been seen, and the woman flash-stepped in that direction. Leave it to Kisuke to make his orders very vague. _'All you have to do is take out a few hollows in the course of a few hours,'_ the hat-wearing man had told her. She would recall more of his thoughts, but then she started to pick up the signature of a hollow, and a big one.

"What?" It seemed like a menos, with the way Reiko was sensing its strength. She picked up on her speed and rushed over towards this hollow that was nearby. 'I'm gonna get you tonight!' The woman would think as she closed in.

In the meanwhile, a man sat on the windowsill of a nearby building, hidden in shadow, watching the new shinigami in town close in on the hollow. He was curious as to how powerful she was, so he observed to figure out whether or not she could be trusted, and he remained near in case the hollow proved to much for her. Despite not liking shinigami in general, he didn't want a life to be taken if he could help it.

Reiko's intuition had proven correct. The hollow indeed was a big one, but it wasn't in anyway a menos. Her abilities as a solo shinigami was limited to her zanpakuto's shikai state and expert knowledge in bakudo, but her shunpo needed a lot of work. There were too many close calls in the past, what with nearly hitting a building in the process, tripping over a rock during her training with Kisuke, and accidentally slicing her finger on her own blade during a shunpo. As fast as she was now (which wasn't very fast), Reiko was only good at baiting before the slaughter that always followed. This time, Reiko nearly tripped over the edge of the rooftop as she jumped up to attack the hollow.

"Glide upon heavenly wings, Cho no Tengoku!" The woman called out, holding her nodachi-sized sword in both hands. It grew in size from a five-foot long blade to an eight-foot long halberd. Only it had a butterfly-shaped blade. "Die, hollow!" One slash wasn't going to be enough, especially not the one that she was giving it now.

Uryu couldn't help but raise his eyebrows when she tripped, his confidence decreasing. The hollow would cause great damage if it wasn't taken care of quickly. Perhaps he should intervene...the young man stood on the ledge of the window, ready to draw his bow at a moment's notice. He didn't want to be seen by this new shinigami. At least not yet. He would give her another opportunity to prove herself, but if she didn't kill the hollow soon, then he would be forced to do it himself. He sighed and folded his arms lightly. At least if she did see him, he would be able to outrun her.

_'No good. I have to jump again.'_ This hollow wasn't going to be taken down so easily, it seemed, and Reiko's slight clumsiness was needing to be checked. The hollow, now glaring at Reiko, extended one of its four arms towards her. Moving aside only increased its chances of connecting, and Reiko cried out as she hit the wall of one of the buildings to her left. "Gah! You dumb hollow..!" The woman shook her head furiously and collected herself while jumping in the air again. _'This hollow's not going to get me again..!'_ She readied her right hand. "Bakudo number thirty-three...Sokatsui!" A light blue-colored jolt hit the hollow, its senses now distorted. "Now...let's try this again!" Reiko started to drive the immense-sized halberd down on the hollow again, attempting a killing blow.

The man continued to watch from the shadows, his posture a bit more relaxed now. It seemed he had underestimated the shinigami's fighting ability. He would stay nearby in case there was a turn of events, but for now it seemed he would be able to merely watch. Though he didn't drop his guard. He never did, really.

Reiko's halberd struck the hollow diagonally from right to left. It wasn't the cleanest strike she had ever made, but it was much better than her original attempt and, while it didn't kill the hollow, it at least made the creature sluggish and weak. The bakudo spell, on the other hand, was staying on strong. "One more time now!" Reiko shouted, swinging her halberd from right to left. It joined with the vertical slash, and Reiko jumped back to see if that was it for the hollow.

He watched, slightly impressed. He noted her strengths and weaknesses in her fighting style, and saw that she seemed to know them too. The way she fought utilized her strengths and used her weak points as little as possible. He admired that.

_'Did I get it..?'_ the shinigami asked herself. She looked up when she didn't hear a roar and saw no traces of the hollow. "Good for me, I only hiccuped once this time!" Reiko said softly, but happily. She held out her halberd and allowed it to return to its original nodachi form. As far as she was aware, there was no more of a reason to keep Cho in her shikai state. "Hm." The woman turned around, almost in an instant. Since when did it take her so long to realize that she was no longer alone? "Who's there?" Reiko called, her sword still drawn.

He tensed, realizing he had been spotted. Slowly, silently, he stepped back into the shadows. Pushing up his glasses with just a single glance back, he disappeared back into the moonlit town.

There was no response from the person whose reishi she had picked up. Was she having a mild hallucination? It didn't seem normal, but what was Reiko to do about it? She closed her eyes and started to concentrate on that one signature. While she couldn't single out spirit ribbons or those visible things that the more skilled shinigami could detect, but she could do the next best thing and follow what was closest to her. "Wait!" Reiko called, opening her eyes. _'Don't tell me I'm gonna have to go on a wild goose chase!'_ she thought as she tried to give chase to the reishi signature.

Deep blue eyes flashed back, noticing the poorly-consealed reiatsu of the shinigami now following him. With a sigh he pushed up his glasses habitually and turned down an alley, hiding his reiatsu even more. Why was she following him..? He turned another corner, reiatsu now completely surpressed, and jumped up to a windowsill. If she somehow managed to continue following him, he didn't want to lead her to where he lived. That would be a fool's move. So instead he just sat in the window, hidden by shadows, and waited to see what would happen as the reiatsu of the new shinigami continued to go toward him.

_'Hmph...the nerve.'_ Reiko slowed her pace to a near stop, having lost track of the reishi signature completely now. _'That's just terrific. I just wanted to know who they were...and why I was being watched.'_ The young woman would fold her arms in front of her chest in disappointment as she continued to walk in the direction that she had originally been going in. Perhaps they were nearby, even though she couldn't sense them anymore. "I don't want to hurt you, in case you're wondering!" the woman called out. She knew perfectly well that nobody else could see or hear her unless they too were spiritually aware. So far, there wasn't another soul in the vicinity that had a distinct reishi. "I just want to ask you a couple of questions is all!" This woman was _not_ about to give up so easily.

He sighed just loud enough for her to hear and stood up on the windowsill, still mostly hidden in shadow. He knew he could've just stayed hidden and she may not have spotted him at all, but he wasn't one to just stand by in any situation. "You are persistant," he commented quietly as she passed by. He leaned against the edge of the windowsill, the reflection off his rectangular glasses the only thing really visible.

"..!" The woman had walked about halfway down the street, or something like that, when she heard the sigh and voice. She came to a complete stop now and looked to her left. Sure enough, just as she had sensed earlier, she'd been watched almost the entire time. "If you're the one that was watching me earlier, then you're absolutely right. I'll _never_ be less persistant...who are you, anyways?" Now let's see if Reiko could stick to the point and find out if this guy was the same one who had been responsible for that blue flash of light earlier as well.

"..." He stepped forward and jumped down from the windowsill with surprising grace for a man, landing easily a few feet from her. He was fairly tall, with black hair and wore a white uniform. Deep blue eyes hid behind rectangular glasses, and the man wore a serious expression that told nothing of what he was thinking. His eyes held undeniable intelligence, and he seemed to analyze everything he looked at with almost an unnerving calm. "Ishida," he gave, a very simple introduction, still surpressing his reiatsu to the point he would feel like no more than an average human. "Who are you, and why are you in Karakura?"

The man in white which now stood a mere few feet from Reiko didn't look like he was very pleased. At least, that was the impression that was being made from the expression on his face. There was something odd about the clothes he wore, though. They looked like some weird version of a shinigami's shihakusho, only a bit more neat and less baggy. Reiko shook her head ever so slightly before bowing. "Reiko Souma. I'm a current resident of this town, as well as a solo shinigami training under Mr. Kisuke Urahara," she answered at last. Her sword had been resheathed just prior to the polite bow, and it hung at a slight diagonal from Reiko's left shoulder down below her right knee. It was a pain to draw at times, considering how long the blade itself was. "By any chance, _are_ you the same one that was watching me earlier?"

He blinked, not having expected the girl to be so polite as to bow. He promptly returned her bow, ever the gentleman. "I suppose I am," he replied softly, pushing his glasses up. "My apologies for my rudeness. I merely sensed a new shinigami in the area, and I needed to know whether or not you could be trusted."

_Whap!_ The last remark from this Ishida guy had earned him a good slap across the face. "I may forgive you, but is that how you treat _every_ shinigami, especially a girl?" Reiko asked. A small vein sat on the left side of her forehead. "I don't exactly know why you're dressed so much like a doctor-styled superhero, but it would do you good to spare me any special treatment or kindness that you might give me just because I'm a female shinigami, Ishida." Polite or not, this man still had some growing up to do. What was up with that weird white uniform, anyways? It matched the guy a little too well, and it was starting to bother Reiko just a little.

"..." He returned to his withdrawn, serious expression at the slap to the face. "...I was not giving you any sort of special treatment, shinigami. I merely deemed you trustworthy upon your use of Urahara-san's name." Rather annoyed at this girl, he turned from her and began walking away without another word.

"Is he really that big a deal to you people in this town?" Reiko asked. She'd gone too far with her words, and she knew it. A soft sigh escaped her as she flash-stepped in front of the once again serious Ishida. "Why were you watching me? What exactly is your role in this town?" Reiko asked.

He pushed his glasses up so his eyes were hidden behind their reflection, leaving his face completely unreadable. "I already explained why I was following you. I needed to know whether or not you were a threat. And Urahara-san has helped us all through many... situations. He is a trusted ally." He avoided her question of who he was and made to step around her, intending to continue walking.

Reiko shook her head for the second time in a few minutes. To do this was an indication of slight irritation, something that Kisuke had warned the woman about. She recalled his words, _If you should ever feel the urge coming on...then you yourself should know that it's time to back off._ Not wanting to start a fight with Ishida, Reiko stepped aside to let him walk by. But first, she had one last question to ask.

"Your checking on every new shinigami that comes to this town, is that something you feel that you need to do because you hate my kind so much?"

He stopped and looked at her out of the corner of his eye, and the temperature seemed to drop. Slowly, he pushed his glasses up. "Perhaps if you knew about me, you would understand." With a light sigh, he stopped surpressing his reiatsu all together, revealing the extent of his spiritual awareness. "I am Ishida Uryu.." he turned toward her. "Last Quincy."


End file.
